Uefa is set to release £27m this week to clubs whose players competed in the 2024-25 Nations League, the first payment under its Club Benefits Programme cycle. The money forms part of a wider £205m fund that Uefa will pay to clubs for releasing players for the 2024-25 and 2026-27 Nations League tournaments, as well as both qualifying and finals matches for Euro 2028.
Most of that fund — £120m — is reserved for clubs with players released for the Euros finals. The remaining £89m is divided among clubs whose players took part in either the Nations League or the Euros qualifiers.
The payment model differs by competition. For the Nations League and Euros qualifiers, clubs are paid on a per-player, per-match basis. For the Euros finals proper, the system changes to per-player, per-day. A similar system was in place at the 2026 World Cup. The flat rate is £3,285 for each player named in a squad list for a Nations League or Euro 2028 qualifying match, which is a 5% increase on what clubs received in the 2020-24 payment cycle for equivalent games.
Uefa said 611 clubs will benefit from the current cycle, a figure likely to rise above 900 when the full Euro 2028 tournament is included, as happened in 2024. RB Leipzig are set to benefit most from the 2024-25 Nations League compensation, earning £302,000 after releasing 16 players for the tournament.
For Premier League clubs, it is not yet possible to calculate who will benefit most financially from the current international break until all Nations League and Euro 2028 qualifiers have concluded. A rough guide comes from the number of players each club released for the 2026-27 Nations League, excluding loanees: Liverpool 17, Arsenal 13, Leeds United 11, Aston Villa nine, Tottenham Hotspur eight, Brentford eight, Bournemouth seven, Brighton seven, Chelsea seven, Everton seven, Fulham seven, Hull City seven, Sunderland seven, Manchester City six, Crystal Palace five, Manchester United five, Newcastle United five, Nottingham Forest four, Ipswich Town three and Coventry City one.
Even those figures come with a caveat: there is no guarantee every player called up will be named on a team sheet, which must happen for a payment to be made. Most Premier League clubs also have additional players called up for international duty in tournaments outside the Nations League, which operate a different compensation system from Uefa — if any — as well as under-21s matches. While multiple call-ups bring obvious financial benefits, clubs with fewer players away can benefit from increased rest and training time for those remaining at home.
Uefa has also run an equivalent compensation scheme in the women’s game, announced in 2022 in time for the 2025 Women’s Euros. More than £3.7m was allocated to 221 clubs across European national associations that released players for the tournament. Uefa said the clubs given the financial compensation were encouraged to use the funds for developing women’s football.